About the Author

Chris Pearce was born in Surrey, UK in 1952, and grew up in Melbourne, Australia. He has qualifications in economics, management/marketing and writing/editing. He worked as a public servant (federal and state) for 25 years and in the real world for 12.5 years.

His inspiration for writing A Weaver’s Web was a postgraduate creative writing course he topped from 30 students in the mid 1990s. After unsuccessfully targeting many literary agents, including one who compared his manuscript to John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, he decided to publish it as an ebook.

He also has a non-fiction book (print only), Through the Eyes of Thomas Pamphlett: Convict and Castaway, which he plans to publish as an ebook later in 2014. He is writing a book on the history of daylight saving time around the world and has some notes towards a novel set 80 years into the future.

Book Information

Synopsis

Handloom weaver Henry Wakefield, his wife Sarah and their five children live in abject poverty in the Manchester area of the UK in the early 19th century at the time of the Industrial Revolution. Henry hates the new factories and won’t let his family work in them. He clashes with Sarah, a factory agent, a local priest and reformers, and son Albert runs away. The family are evicted and move to Manchester but are even worse off, living in a cellar in a terrace and have another little mouth to feed.

Henry’s love of money overrides his hatred of factories and he starts one of his own, but it is beset with problems. The Wakefields eventually become quite wealthy, but Henry holds the purse strings and this has a devastating effect on the family. Albert is caught stealing and is transported to New South Wales. Her baby’s death, Albert’s unknown fate and society parties become too much for Sarah, who hears voices and is taken to the lunatic asylum. Son Benjamin faces eviction from the family home for having a baby with an orphan girl too soon after their marriage.

Family members, including Sarah who has got out of the asylum and Albert who has returned to England unbeknown to Henry, have had enough and seek revenge.

My Review

When I first read the synopsis for this book I was hesitant to agree to review it. Not because I thought it wouldn’t be interesting but because I thought the synopsis essentially told me the entire story before I had even read a word of it! From the synopsis I knew that the Wakefields start out poor, that they were going to get even poorer, they would experience some extremely hard times, they would come into money, Henry would be a jerk, and the family would get tired of it and seek revenge. Based on every other book and movie that’s just about everything I need to know about the book right there, the rest is just dressing. Right?

WRONG. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Not only is the story more than that but the characters themselves are more than that. I thought for sure this was going to be a book that I would immediately hate Henry and because I couldn’t find anything to attach myself to, I would then hate the book. Again I was wrong…well about the last part anyway. While I was right in the fact that Henry was very unlikable, to me, I found that because I liked several of the other characters I wanted Henry’s factory to work, I wanted him to get rich, but I wanted him to have some kind of revelation before that so that the “Henry would be a jerk” would not come to pass. Even though I KNEW this would not happen it still didn’t stop me from turning the pages and hoping it would happen. Overall, the story and the characters were very well written, it all drew me in and kept me there, also the time period couldn’t have been more well written, reading it I felt like I could describe to you exactly what you should wear if you were going to hop in a Tardis and make a trip to 1800’s United Kingdom.

Does Henry turn over a new leaf at the end? Does his family get the revenge they’re seeking? Or does Henry get the last laugh? To find out exactly how A Weaver’s Web is woven head over to Amazon to purchase by clicking here.

My Score

5 out of 5

If you enjoyed this book review be sure to check out my others by clicking here

About Cassie

I started Southeast by Midwest back in 2012 as a lifestyle blog. After a few months I felt a pull towards beauty so I rebranded as a beauty specific blog. Over the years I've grown my knowledge and love of beauty products to the point that I am currently in Cosmetology school. If you'd like to know more about me contact me on any of my social media channels or at southeastbymidwestblog@gmail.com

MAC Aaliyah Lipsticks & Lipglass

Support Southeast by Midwest

Southeast by Midwest is dedicated to bringing you truthful, unbiased opinions on some of the most popular makeup products and brands today. As Southeast by Midwest is not on most PR lists, if you would like to help support our efforts by clicking through these links when you shop at these stores it would be greatly appreciated. Shopping via these links doesn't cost you anything extra; just a percentage of your total will be shared with Southeast by Midwest to go towards purchasing new products!

2 weeks agoby southeastbymidwestYes it's no longer July BUT in my defense it's only August 3rd so I classify that as winning. If you don't know what I'm going on about, it's time for my July @boxycharm unboxing and the review of some of my June Boxycharm products. The past few months I was only doing unboxings and I was doing them so late I was doing them two months at a time. SO the fact that I reviewed June products and got the July unboxing up and it's only August 3rd is a win. Oh and obvs one of the products that

2 weeks agoby southeastbymidwestCan y'all even at this PR package that I just got from @pacificabeauty ?! I don't know what I'm loving more the tissue paper, the bag, or the actual products. I can hear you you asking through the screen, what ARE those products?! The product on the bottom are the Underarm Deodorant Wipes with Coconut Milk and Essential Oils. The spray at the top is the new Coconut Vanilla Underarm Deodorant Spray that is made without aluminum! Both of these are great to throw in your bag, your gym bag, or just have in the car for touch-ups throughout the

2 weeks agoby southeastbymidwestI don't know about you but as a YouTuber I love seeing brands collabing with YouTubers. I especially love when they do it multiple times. Can you believe that @maccosmetics has collabed with @patrickstarrr three times, yes that's right THREE! This is part of the MAC x Patrick Starrr Me So Chic set, the lipglass is hiding on the other side of the powder blush duo...it's a shy little thing, that I'm reviewing on the blog and my YouTube channel. I also have some swatches over there as well...not Instagram quality swatches hence their not being on here but swatches

2 weeks agoby southeastbymidwestWe all know that I'm a bit behind on my reviews so lets just get past the fact that these @klpolish polishes were released several months ago. Let's instead talk about how amazing KL Polish Paper Snow and KL Polish Tuxedo Mask look on the nails, don't believe me head over to the clickable link in my profile to see the swatches. Paper Snow seriously reminds me of when I use to paint my nails with White Out when I was a teenager...what don't judge me it was the late 90's early 00's I'm sure others did worse with beauty

Hello

I started Southeast by Midwest back in 2012 as a lifestyle blog. After a few months I felt a pull towards beauty so I rebranded as a beauty specific blog. Over the years I've grown my knowledge and love of beauty products to the point that I am currently in Cosmetology school. If you'd like to know more about me contact me on any of my social media channels or at southeastbymidwestblog@gmail.com

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you understand and accept, even if you do not click okay. Cookies are for sure used when clicking on affiliate links so clicking on those also accepts this.OkRead more